In today's 125cc race from Germany, there was a virtual tie at the finish.
official time showed 0.000 second difference between the two riders.
Hector Faubel (yellow bike) won because he had a faster lap than Johann Zarco during the race.

So what is the protocol in F1 when the winner can't be determined by time?

(07-18-2011 10:11 AM)InterRaptor Wrote: Splitting the points seems more fair to me than awarding the win based on the fastest lap, which might be several laps back and doesn't really say much about overall performance.

It makes the podium easier though. I guess it comes down to how much you want a winner at the end of the race.

But that driver failed to take advantage of the better qualifying place. If they performed equally in the race they would finish ahead, but merely finishing exactly the same time means they actually drove worse.

since when was it about who put in the stronger performance? that's like saying they should give it to the person whose teammate did worse because he probably did more with a weaker car. it's racing. where you finish is all that matters.

(07-18-2011 01:43 PM)frankdouglason Wrote: since when was it about who put in the stronger performance? that's like saying they should give it to the person whose teammate did worse because he probably did more with a weaker car. it's racing. where you finish is all that matters.

It's still about the stronger performance. Not only of the driver but of the whole team. I don't remember who always says F1 is a team sport, but in the end, the driver who has the better package, makes no (or the least) mistakes and manages to stay out of the other drivers mistakes wins the race.

But to come back to Yaaay's solution, it's really a question whether you consider just the race or the whole grand prix weekend. In the race, the driver who started further back certainly showed a better performance, driving a longer distance in the same time. Over the whole weekend, though, it's more difficult to decide.

if it's truly a dead heat, i don't see that as a cop out. i see that as accurate.

to me, in an instance of true dead heat, using an arbitrary method of giving one car more points and the other less just to appease the media's/fans' need to declare a winner is the cop out. there wasn't a winner. that's not hard to understand. why pretend?

I like the fastest race lap solution, it's a clear cut statistic to use.

Assuming most people haven't watched the race you should if it's easy to come by, it was a fantastic race with a good sized group racing close together for a lot of the race and really dicing for the lead. Definitely one of the best 125cc races in a while.

(07-18-2011 02:18 PM)frankdouglason Wrote: if it's truly a dead heat, i don't see that as a cop out. i see that as accurate.

to me, in an instance of true dead heat, using an arbitrary method of giving one car more points and the other less just to appease the media's/fans' need to declare a winner is the cop out. there wasn't a winner. that's not hard to understand. why pretend?

It's a very American thing to have to have a winner, or that's certainly a stereotype I see, although Motorcycle racing is controlled by the Spanish and I don't know what they are generally like with regard to that.

I think I'd prefer it to be called a tie but it could get awkward with the raising of the flag and the national anthem on the podium. Even if you play both anthems it's hard to raise two flags.

You have to feel for whoever is second though, it's not like setting the fastest lap is something they would consciously try to achieve over a race, especially when they are dicing with other riders.